Curiouser and Curiouser

DD-1: Contrariwise

Write a conversation between the most unlikely of companions. Think completely opposite ends of the spectrum and what they could possibly talk about. (<1000 words)

Once upon the time when the world was very young, the Earth was lonely. She could talk to the Sea or the Sky, but they were her brothers and were more inclined to tease her than to hold a sensible conversation. She could talk to her parents, but her mother was the Darkness beyond, and her father was Chaos and they'd always had each other, and they didn't understand. She wanted a companion.

And so she gathered fire from the center of the world between her hands and shaped it and nursed it and breathed life into it until it could jump and dance and whisper comfort to her when she was alone and she called it her Firechild. And the Earth was pleased with her creation, but Firechild was hungry. When he was small, he lingered in the hearth and chattered away, but as he grew, he consumed everything that he touched.

“Look at me,” he said, as his lavas poured out in impossible shapes that invaded the Sea or exploding into infernos that burned the Sky to all horizons. “Look what I can do!”

And the Sea and the Sky came to the Earth and asked her, “Why have you made this Firechild? Soon, he will eat all of us, and this world will never blossom, but will turn to ash and drift away into Chaos and Darkness.”

“But I love my Firechild. He keeps me warm and makes me laugh. Why should I smother him when he makes me happy?”

But they were not satisfied. “Your Firechild will make us burn away, and then where will he be? He'll die with all of us.”

And they went away, troubled.

But deep in a night when fire sent sparks high into the air, the Sky had an idea. In the highest reaches of himself, he found ice. And he shaped it and nursed it and breathed life into it until it could dance on wisps of mist and shade the world and he called it his Cloudchild. And the Sky was pleased with his creation. But Cloudchild was mutable. At first, she was content to drift in wisps and whirls across the world, but as she drifted, she gathered heat and moisture and winds and rains.

“Look at me,” she said as her winds whipped the Sea into a hurricane or her snows blanketed the Earth in layer upon layer of ice until the glaciers were a mile thick and flowed close to Firechild. “Look what I can do!”

And the Earth and the Sea came to the Sky and asked him, “Why have you made this Cloudchild? She cracks and splinters and blows so that this world will never know peace but will freeze and break and s drift away into Chaos and Darkness.”

“But I love my Cloudchild. She shades the world and makes me laugh with her breezes. Why should I blow her away when she makes me happy?”

But they were not satisfied. “Your Cloudchild will freeze us solid, and then where will she be. She'll die with all of us.”

And they went away, troubled.

But deep in a night when the Sea was invaded by fire and whipped by storm, he had an idea. In the shallow places where warm and cold churned and changed, he found a weed. And he shaped it and nursed it and breathed life into it, and changed it and blew it into the Sky and onto the Earth.

And he went to his brother, the Sky, and his sister, the Earth. “I have new children. Planktons and Bacteria and Multi-Celled Organisms, and Fishes, and Plants and Animals, and Birds, and Insects and all sorts. They will keep us company in this world and fill it with breath and life and song and laughter.”

“But what of my Firechild?”

“They need him. He will give them warmth and comfort and light. And sometimes, when he is hungry, he will consume them, but they will find refuge and repopulate the World that he consumes.”

“And what of my Cloudchild?”

“They need her. She will give them cool and shade and water. And sometimes, when she has mutated and grown into storms and hurricanes and blizzards that flood the earth with water and ice, they will be drowned, but some will find refuge and repopulate the World that she covers.”

And they consulted together and decided this would be good. And so, Life came to the world.

word count: 756